Lili goes to work

Tags

agent burlieque, baby, breast feeding, burlesque, cabaret, costumes, Ipswich, Miss Jones, Regent Theatre, road trip, Sapphire Rox, show

A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from the lovely Miss Sapphire Rox. She had been let down by her compere and needed someone for an Agent Burlieque show at the Ipswich Regent Theatre on the 22nd March. I had previously turned down doing the show as Rafferty was expected mid-February but since he made his appearance early, I jumped at the chance to get back onstage.
As the show approached, I was understandably nervous. It would be the first time that I had left Rafferty for longer than an hour and a half. This time I would be gone for the best part of seven hours.
The day arrived and I packed my show case, which took an absolute age. When got pregnant, I put my regular performing costumes away. At the time, I thought myself rather well organised but now that I need them again, I see that there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to my packing. There’s a hat here, a bustle there and goodness only knows where I’ve put my fishnet tights?
I also seem to have forgotten what one packs in to a show case. In the past, I’ve been able to pack everything into a ‘carry-on’ sized suitcase but this weekend, however, it looked as if I was going away for a month!
As four o’clock approached, I made sure I had everything and my husband packed the breast pump as I would need to pump because I was away from the baby for so long. I primed the grandparents and gave them the bottles for the evening. Then, with my heart in my mouth, I jumped into the car and sped away, Suffolk-bound.
Like any first-time mother away for the first time, I worried all the way to Ipswich but a quick phone call home reassured me that everything was fine although did little to assuage my ‘mother’s guilt’.
I arrived at the Regent, soundchecked, threw my face on and wriggled into a rather tight costume. Note to self – less cake. Before I knew it, it was showtime and Lili had to get on with the job at hand.

The show was huge fun, lovely acts and a stellar audience who knew how to have fun and being back onstage felt like the most natural thing in the world. The first half flew by and we got to the interval, cue a costume change and a quick pump as there was a risk that my boobs might explode!
Catastrophe! In his eagerness to help me, my husband had missed a piece of the pump, so I couldn’t express at all! By now, I was starting to resemble a porn star with these enormous engorged knockers! Looked fab, felt like hell.

The show finished with a bang with the fab fire performer, Miss Jones.

She completely killed the audience with her devilish fire routine and nothing remained but for me to send them out smiling with a song.

After the show, I packed up my case and dashed back to the car, by now feeling like someone had strapped two huge balloons to my chest. I drove like a bat out of hell down the A12, (within the speed limits of course since it had begun to snow when I left Ipswich) and made it home safely.
It was absolute heaven to get home to my boys, although Rafferty was fast asleep so I had to wait for him to stir before I could feed him.
My husband said my poor boobs were at the same time the most and least sexy thing he’d ever seen!
I guess the moral of the tale is that motherhood alongside travelling performer/compere for hire is a learning curve and I’m sure with time I’ll have it down to a fine art but for now, it is a case of ‘can do better’!!

Love Lili

Lili’s Down Under Vintage Adventure

Tags

clothing, music, songs, style, Vintage, vivien of holloway

Every vintage collector has a story about a treasure trove that they have discovered, or the day they stumbled across something incredible. Mine happened at the Adelaide Fringe  in Australia in 2010.
I sing vintage songs from between 1920 and 1950 so it follows that my audiences are often of a slightly older demographic or vintage lovers themselves. One afternoon I was flyering for my show outside my venue and I was wearing a lovely Vivien of Holloway full circle dress with a big red petticoat. Two ladies stopped by me and commented how pretty the dress was, one said how she still had dresses from when she was young. She went on to say that she was just planning to put them in the rubbish, after all, who would want old dresses? Who indeed? Me. Me. Me. That’s who. I offered them free tickets to my show, if they would just pop the dresses into bags and drop them off to me at the Spiegeltent.

The following week, imagine my surprise when they turned up with bags and bags of gorgeous 50’s dresses. One of the ladies, Jean, had a mother who was a dress maker. So all the dresses were handmade and homemade in England before she emigrated to Australia. More excitingly, they all fitted me as if they had been made for me.

It was the sort of vintage treasure trove that I’ve only ever heard about from other people. Dresses of every hue, with layers of tulle and sequins. A white petticoat so stiff and big that it stands on its own in the middle of the floor. A divine late 40’s dress and matching jacket in apple green. A dress which, if I didn’t know better, I’d say was made by the amazing ladies at Whirling Turban. I was just amazed, again and again, as I pulled each item out of the bag. Each dress has been in a bag in a cupboard, so they were all in great condition. My only problem was how to get them home? Cue two extra suitcases and a huge excess baggage bill!
On my final weekend at the Adelaide Fringe that year, I had a lovely couple bring their 93 year old mother to the show. She was so beautiful, and reminded me so much of my favourite great aunt. She absolutely loved the show, and afterwards she came to tell me how much she enjoyed it. She said that she still had her going away gloves from her wedding in 1953, and she wondered whether I would like them? She didn’t think that her children would want them, and she’d love them to go to a good home where they would be loved. I almost cried at her generosity. Her daughter-in-law dropped them off to me and when I opened them I was stunned. Navy blue, butter soft suede, softly ruched at the wrist and made in France and in absolutely perfect condition, and they fitted me perfectly. So, so incredibly beautiful.
I’m planning to go back in 2014 with my brand new show that I’m previewing in Edinburgh this year (Lili la Scala Sings Songs She Likes and Hopes You Like too!) and I hope there is more glorious vintage just waiting for me.
What exciting vintage treasure trove stories do you have? I’d love to hear them.

Love Lili.